INPPAZ - PAHO - WHO
BIREME - PAHO - WHO

GuiaVETA
Guidelines of Surveillance System for Foodborne Diseases and Investigation of Outbreaks

ANNEX I

GLOSSARY

Active surveillance: Information is gathered by direct survey.

Acute diarrheic disease (Case): Is a person suffering from three or more liquid or watery stools within a 24-hour period.

Acute diarrheic disease (Outbreak): Occurrence of two or more related cases and where epidemiological evidence shows no involvement of water of food. This type of outbreak is characterized by person to person form of transmission present at pediatric centers, centers for the elderly or handicapped, etc. Conclusions are shown by means of the epidemiological curve with more than one incubation period during the outbreak.

Carrier: Person or animal having a specific infectious agent with no clinical signs of disease but capable of transmitting the agent.

Case-control study: Study in which the involved subjects refer to the presence (case) or the absence (controls) of the disease in question. The information collected refers to the last exposition of cases and controls.

Cohort study: Study in which subjects are listed based on their presence (exposed) or absence (not exposed) in the presence of risk factors. Subjects are followed for a period of time for the development of the disease in question.

Contamination: Evidence of an agent in food or in any object which could be in contact with the food. This agent Is capable of causing disease in a person through the consumption of food.

Control: In a case-control study, comparison with a group of people who do not suffer from the disease under investigation.

Cross-contamination: Is the transmission of a biological, chemical, of physical hazard to a food through dirt, cleaning cloths, contact with other raw products, dirt, or the hands of food handlers.

Disseminated outbreak: An outbreak without a common source; dissemination occurs from person to person.

Epidemic: Occurrence of cases of disease in a higher number than was expected.

Family FBD Outbreak: Episode in which two or more people living together or in contact with one another contract a similar disease after consuming the same food and in which the epidemiological evidence identifies the food or water as the source of the disease.

FBD Case: It refers to a person who got ill after the consumption of food or water considered contaminated through epidemiological evidence or by laboratory test.

FBD Outbreak: Episode in which two or more persons contract a similar disease after consuming food, including water, from the same source and where epidemiological analysis or laboratory tests involve food or water as vehicles of this disease.

FBD: Foodborne disease. (The acronym is both plural and singular).
Syndrome caused by the intake of food or water containing etiological agents in a number which affects the consumers' health, whether individually or in population groups. Individual hypersensitivity allergies to certain food are not considered FBD.

Food Hygiene: All the conditions and measures which guarantee food safety at all stages, from production, elaboration, distribution, to preparation and the moment in which the food is served.

Food Infections: FBD produced by the intake of food or water contaminated with specific infectious agents such as bacteria, virus, fungi, parasites, which can multiply or lyse in the intestinal lumen and produce toxins or enter the intestinal wall and from there reach other systems.

Food intoxications: FBD produced by the intake of toxins formed in human or plant tissues, in metabolic products of food microorganisms, or by chemical substances accidentally, incidentally or intentionally incorporated to them at any stage from production to consumption.

Food: Any elaborated, semi-elaborated or natural substance for human consumption, including beverages, chewing gum and any other substance used in the manufacture, preparation, or treatment of food; it dos not include cosmetics, tobacco or substances used solely as medicine (for the purposes of this guide, water is considered food).

Hazard: Biological, physical, or chemical agent in or belonging to the food, which can produce an adverse effect to human health.

Histogram: Graphic representation of frequency of distribution of a continuous variable. It is used to describe the outbreak throughout time.

Incidence: Number of new cases in a period of time in a specific population, divided by the population at risk.

Incubation period: Interval between the initial contact with an infectious agent and the occurrence of the first symptoms associated with the infection.

Infection: Occurrence, development and multiplication of an infectious agent in the body of a person or animal.

Infectious disease: A clinically evident disease caused by infection.

Outbreak of common source: An outbreak which occurs in a group of people exposed to a common source. If the group is exposed during a relatively short period of time (for example, if all the cases occur within the incubation period), the outbreak of common source is classified as one with a common starting point.

Passive Surveillance: Continuous measurement of people attending medical services.

Prevalence: Number of people suffering from a disease in a specific period of time.

Rate of attack: Proportion of the population who get sick after a specific exposure.

Reportable Disease: A disease which, in accordance with the law or the resolutions of the sanitary authority, should be reported.

Source of infection: The person, animal, object, or substance from which an infectious agent is transmitted to the host.

Surveillance: The systematic recollection, verification and analysis of data and the dissemination of the information to those who need to know it in order to take actions.

Vector: An animated intermediary in the indirect transmission of an agent, carrying it from a reservoir to a susceptible host.

Vehicle: Inanimate intermediary (e.g., food) in the indirect transmission of an agent which carries it from a reservoir to a susceptible host.

VETA: (Foodborne diseases surveillance). A simple, timely, continuous system of information of certain diseases suffered due to food or water consumption which includes the research of determinant factors and causative agents of the entity as well as the diagnosis of the situation, allowing for the formulation of strategies of actions for prevention and control. The VETA system should also be: flexible, acceptable, responsive, and representative.

Zoonosis: Infection or disease which can be transmitted under natural conditions from vertebrates to man.